When You Feel Like Quitting (Part Three)

This week, we are looking at reasons to stay engaged in serving Christ, even when we feel like quitting. It is comforting to know that Paul had similar struggles, but it can challenge us to see why he did not give up. Monday, we saw that his first motivation (found in 2 Corinthians 4:1) is the realization that this work is not mere labor—it is a life-changing ministry. Yesterday we saw the reality that we have a ministry that involves the precious treasure (2 Cor.4:7) of the message of Christ. We close today with a third motive:

The inner man is renewed daily.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (4:16).

George Duncan writes in his commentary on 2 Corinthians:

“Physically this body of ours is not going to last forever; in fact it does wonderfully well to last so long, and it does this because it carries within it it’s own replacement and repair service. Indeed we are told that every seven years or so our body completely renews itself. . . . But there seems to come a time when even the body itself runs out of spares. We discover that our sight is not so good; our hearing is not so good; we don’t seem to have the same amount of energy” (Pastor and People, pp.53-54).

We are living in what my father-in-law called “the 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes.” Read it, and you’ll get the idea. But in this verse Paul wasn’t dwelling on decline. He was pointing to our renewal! The inner man is renewed day by day. Dr. Moule brings us a scene from Pilgrim’s Progress that really pictures renewal:

“The Apostle’s life might be illustrated by that remarkable scene in Pilgrim’s Progress where the Interpreter, in his house of parables, takes the Traveller in to watch the fire which burns on ever brighter under difficulties. There is the glowing hearth, always more alive with flame. Yet in front of it stands one who continually casts water on the heat, to put it out. Christian is much perplexed. Then his host leads him around behind the wall, and lo! another agent is at work there, pouring through a secret channel oil into the fire” (The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 34).

What a picture of Paul’s teaching! It is one of renewal through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the refreshing of God’s Word. And so our prayer is this:

O God, for another day, for another morning,
for another hour, for another minute, for another chance
to live and serve thee, I am truly grateful.

Do Thou this day free me

from all fear of the future,

from all anxiety abut tomorrow,

from all bitterness toward anyone,

from all cowardice in the face of danger,

from all laziness in the face of work,

from all failure before opportunity,

from all weakness when Thy power is at hand.

But fill me

with Love that knows no barrier,

with Sympathy that reaches to all,

with Courage that cannot be shaken,

with Faith strong enough for the darkness,

with Strength sufficient for my task,

with Wisdom to meet life’s complexities,

with Power to lift me to Thee.

Be Thou with me for another day, and use me as Thou wilt.

For Christ’s sake, I pray. Amen.

—Taken from Walking with Arthur by James O’Donnell (pp.145-46)

This Thanksgiving week, may our God grant us a heart of gratitude for the privilege of serving Him… it is truly much to be thankful for!